Vetsure provides simple solution to pet insurance regulatory changes

29th Jan 2018

If you haven’t seen already, you will be likely to hear a lot of talk in the insurance world about the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD). The IDD is designed to improve EU regulation in the insurance market by ensuring a level playing field for all participants.

What is IDD?

The new Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) sets out the framework for regulating EU insurance brokers, agents and other insurance intermediaries. It was supposed to be published on February 23rd 2018 but instead has been delayed until October 2018.

How will it affect insurers?

The IDD will have considerable ramifications on the way in which pet insurance policies are promoted by veterinary teams. In particular, vets actively promoting pet insurance as Appointed Representatives (ARs) will be additionally classified as ‘Ancillary Insurance Intermediaries’ (AIIs) when the IDD comes into effect. AIIs are persons whose principal professional activity is not that of insurance distribution and who only distribute insurance products that are complementary to their goods or services. The IDD sets out training requirements for AIIs which includes 15 hours of insurance CPD per staff member each year! Clearly such requirements would prevent most veterinary teams from engaging as they currently do as ARs. In particular, highly regulated tasks such as the issuing of cover notes (being undertaken by vets promoting some insurers) would become challenging to maintain whilst maintaining compliance to these new rulings.

Vetsure lead the way!

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is now allowing insurers to implement the rules by 1st October 2018 but Vetsure Pet Insurance have decided to take a proactive stance and tackle the challenge with immediate effect. In preparation for the directive, Vetsure is in the process of issuing all their vet partners with new agreements which have been designed to be: simpler, more in keeping with the level of responsibility expected of vets (whose principal activity is certainly not selling pet insurance) and which are compliant to IDD.

Good News for Vetsure Vets

For far too long, the establishment of pet insurers have exposed vets to excessive regulatory risk and have been guilty of not providing adequate supervision and monitoring given the level of regulatory tasks they have been asked to perform, we believe that the changes will make practice’s regulatory commitments far less onerous, expose their business to far less risk and actually free up the team to drive the uptake of quality pet insurance by clients.

The new agreements being issued by Vetsure still allow the practice teams to undertake the vast majority of activities that our partnered practices are currently undertaking. Practices will still be able to promote Vetsure in discussion with clients, display Vetsure promotional material and submit 5 weeks free applications and process e-claims through our online Vetsure Hub. All whilst maintaining compliance to the new IDD regulations.

Practices will still have the option to undertake training but only to enable the practice to achieve ‘Advanced Accreditation’ with Vetsure rather than to satisfy an FCA requirement– this accreditation status is subsequently promoted to pet owing consumers through the vetsure.com website.

We look forward to continually help practice teams feel confident in our insurance policies but without having to fulfill all of the FCA requirements inherent of the old arrangements.